October 28, 2015

Laos, for most outsiders looking in, is an empty page. Until recently, one of the least visited countries in South-East Asia, the least industrialised, one of the poorest, with a communist government that has kept it isolated. Having been entirely…

I have the tendency to make things horrifically complicated. It is as though I have a genetic predisposition to make things difficult for myself. For future reference, any simple task that you present to me comes with an unwritten guarantee that…

The Parents. They showed me the world, put food on my plate and facilitated my education. They also never made The Sister feel bad that I was the obvious favourite. For all these things and more, I am grateful. People…

We are foreigners in a strange land. I washed up on London's shore from Sydney and The Swede, not surprisingly, hails from Sweden. Needless to say, we have a lot of visitors passing through our little Holland Park home. The…

There is no point pretending otherwise: I love praise. To be told I have done something well makes my cheeks glow with happiness and my heart want to explode from self-congratulation. I am then, quite obviously, afforded the ability to…

"A gastropub: an idiotic term coined by those who somehow thought a properly poured pint couldn't, or shouldn't, co-exist with fine quality food. I, to tell you the truth, used to be just such an idiot." - Anthony Bourdain (The Layover: Dublin, 2013) Finally:…

Chicken. It's the worst. Until recently, I actively avoided ordering chicken in restaurants. It could be dripping in truffles and prepared to tender perfection - I was still not about to order it. And don't even get me started about…

I would like to say that I trekked across the Mexican border into Belize for adventure. To discover somewhere new. To see the second largest barrier reef in the world. To explore more of the Mayan sites I had read…